Thrashing Spirits
by Beloveddreamer
Summary: Lucy leaves fairytail to raise her abilities. On her travels she meets a familiar, cocky face, but for the sake of the guild, decides to put up with him during her travels. Set during the current anime centric arc. Sounds cliche, but a bit different than other's
1. Chapter 1

Lucy Heartfilia stared at third guild hall of Fairy Tail with unshed tears in her eyes. She told herself that she was doing the right thing for everyone, and that she would be back when she was ready. When she was strong. She knew that she couldn't tell anyone that she was leaving. In a different circumstance, she would've asked permission from Master Makarov, however, the master was now Macao, and Lucy knew that he would tell Natsu and the others, preventing her from leaving. So instead, she took the cowardly way out, writing a letter and leaving it on her kitchen counter for Michelle to find, always weak.

Lucy reflected on the night, and what had transpired only hours before. She remembered Earthland's version of Hughes, Sugar Boy and Coco splitting the guild up. Lucy and Michelle had been faced with a female Hughes, who was able to control humans with a disgusting, rotted looking hand. The evil woman had knocked Lucy's sweet cousin Michelle unconcious, and forced Lucy to hand over the clock hand, bequeathed to her by her deceased father. Lucy had known that she weak, and constantly scolded herself for it, but tonight had been different; because of her lack of magical, phisical, emotional and mental strenth, Michelle had nearly been killed. So, she was leaving on an intense training session, to hone her mental acuity, physical strenth, magical abilities, and her raging emotions. When she returned, she was going to be strong and able. Someone worthy of being in Fairy Tail's strongest team. By now, the tears were streaming down her face in an endless torrent of rain, unstoppable. _That, _she thought tiredly, _is what I'll become. Unstoppable_

_._

There was a loud crash as the Fairy Tail front entrance door was forced open from the outside, and something crashlanded as it fell onto the floor at everyone's feet.

"Michelle?" a concerned voice questioned hastily, "Are you alright?" Mirajane Strauss rushed to the floor, where the blond girl was trying to stand up but failing as she tripped once more on the skirt of her obnoxiously large dress.

"Mira-san!" Michelle panted, "it's Lucy!" This caught everyone's attention. What could be wrong with their lively, skittish, stellar spirit mage?

"Lucy? What's wrong with her?" Erza rushed towards where the two girls were now brushing themselves off, and with a wild look in her eyes, aimed her question at the older-but-technically-younger girl.

"She's gone! I woke up with everything quiet and some belongings of hers missing. At first I thought she had slept in, but I checked, and she wasn't there. I checked the bathroom too, but nothing. In fact, she wasn't anywhere I looked, and everything looked as it did from when i went to sleep. That was when I found this." the strawberry blond girl fished a folded piece of paper from her back pocket, and then presented it to Erza.

The red haired mage took the offered parchment, and unfolded it carefully. Natsu, Gray and Levy, all with frantic, scared and angry looks in their eyes, leaned in closer to their fellow guildmate, and waited for Erza to begin speaking.

"It's a note addressed to the guild, in Lucy's handwriting." Erza's voice became unsure of itself as she reached the end of her sentence.

"Erza..." Wendy meekly turned to the woman she had always looked up to. She was shocked to see the grief in the requip wizard's eyes, but stopped speaking as Erza cleared her throat and focused on the letter she was holding.

_"'Dear everyone,_

_I'm sorry that I am not saying this to you all in person, but I know that you would stop me if I did, so instead, I've left this note with you all to explain where I am going, or rather, what I am leaving to do.'" _Erza ignored the gasps that the members of the guild expressed at the new information they had received, and continued reading out the last words they would hear from Lucy in a long time. _"'I have realised now, that I am weaker than ever, and that while you have all been advancing in your magical skills, mine are the same as what they were back during the Phantom Lord attack. I have decided to immerse myself in an intensive training mission for the next few years, and while I will miss you each and every day, I believe that this is something that I need to do, in order to prove to myself and everyone else, that I am worthy of being in the strongest guild in all of Magnolia, possible even in all of Fiore. I know that none of you think it, but this new attack is my fault. If it hadn't been for me, those _Legion _wizards_ _wouldn't have attacked you all, and I am more sorry than you know for leaving you at this time, however, I believe that I wouldn't have been any help anyway. I beg that you honour my wish to do this, and don't come chasing after me to bring me home. Hopefully I will see you all again shortly._

_Love,_

_Lucy."_

By now, the note was riddled with splatters of water where Erza's tears had touched it. There wasn't a face in the guild that wasn't streaming with tears. Even Lisanna, who hadn't known Lucy very well, was crying into Elfman's shoulder, along with her older sister. Gray was holding onto Juvia as if she was a lifeline, and Wendy was gripping Carla so tightly, that the Exceed was nearly as blue as Happy, who now looked as glum as everyone else. Natsu was just as bad, but instead of seeking comfort with another guild member, he was standing stock-still in the middle of the guild hall, with a blank expression on his face. The only hint that he had heard Erza's words was the cascade of tears rolling down his cheeks. Michelle was blaming herself, and hugging Kinana, who had a similar expression to Lisanna on her face. Cana was embracing Gildarts, and Levy was crying against Jet and Droy, who were trying hard to look brave for her.

The old Master, Makarov was laying on the bar bawling for one of his lost children. The entire situation reminded him of when he had to expel Laxus from the guild, and just like that time, he was feeling extremely guilty for not recognizing the signs. He should've known that a kind soul such as Lucy would feel tremendously guilty for something like this. Makarov let his tears die out a bit, and instead, tried to think of where the girl could've possible gone.

nngh! Ugh!

Grunting and moaning was all that could be heard from the shabby motel room, as an extremely unkempt, blond, man, was seemingly trying to break open a wall, using a bed. Laxus exhaled through clenched teeth, and looked at the girl under him. She couldn't be any older than 20, not that it mattered all that much, she was the same as the rest of them, not that he was complaining. He was brought out of his musing as the petite little thing cried out in ecstasy, and smirked, _that hadn't taken to long, _Laxus thought arrogantly, as he followed her on the bliss express.

Years later, Lacus would look back at this moment and cringe in embarrassment, but for now, he was content to just lay there. A knock on the door signalled that the food that he had ordered was there for him. _Might as well make myself known, _"Come in."


	2. Chapter 2

Thankyou to everyone who reviewed/favourited/alerted. Here's chapter 2 for you all. it's not as long as last time, but i'll have a longer one for you next week i promise! I have decided to post once per week on a Friday night (morning for some people) and hope that this is okay with everyone. POV changes are signaled by the '-' Anyway, on with the chapter.

Lucy walked through the Town of Shirotsume, which she had reached only the night before, after travelling for several days and nights. She'd been training along the way, which accounted for the ridiculous travel time, and was confident that even after only a few days of exercise and meditation, that she was becoming more resilient towards rough conditions. The blond knew that keeping her training up was the only way to get stronger, but she was so bloody exhausted! At this point in time, she was only really concerned about where she would sleep, and what she would eat.

Down the road, there was a crash and yelling of obscenities. Shrieks were sounded throughout the street as more bangs were heard. Running towards the commotion, Lucy opened up the pouch kept attached to her belt, and placed her hand on the hook, ready to grab whichever key was necessary. As she neared her destination, Lucy noticed the large crowd of people, and most of the women were blushing. Thinking this odd, a befuddled look crossed the celestial mage's face, however she immediately forgot her confusion as the sounds of grunts and smacks reached her ears.

"Excuse me! Make way! I'm a wizard, I can handle this, I'm from Fairy Tail" While Fairy Tail had lost some of its credibility -okay, _most_ of its credibility- it was once again reaching its high status as one of the most powerful guild in Fiore. Due to this, all that the horde of people had to do was see the mark on Lucy's hand (which she held high in the air for them to view) and they parted like the Red Sea. However, once Lucy sighted what was going on _inside_ of the large group, she wished that they would rejoin, and that she could visit a clinic and receive a lobotomy. Standing before her eyes, in all of his naked glory, was Laxus Dreyar, trading blows with a man who looked to be of similar age, but was much more appropriately dressed.

"... you bloody asshole!" the unknown man shouted, disgust hanging on each word like white on rice.

"Well, maybe, if your girlfriend wasn't such a harlot, we wouldn't have this problem," Laxus spit back, nodding towards a tiny girl behind the other man.

At these words, Laxus was rushed at, fists flying everywhere. Just as Lucy decided that enough was enough, Laxus' body started to spark with electricity. _Ah shit, they _both_ need to cool off._ Spotting a nearby fountain, Lucy had an idea, and ran in its direction.

-

Laxus spat out blood as one of the more recent blows had him biting his gum particularly hard. Distantly he heard a high-pitched voice shout out something. He distinctly heard the words "wizard", and "Fairy Tail". Looking over appeared to be a mistake, as a fist landed in his gut. Thinking that he had heard something snap, he staggered and clutched at his ribcage. Now he was angry. Before it had just been a bit of fun, Laxus had decided that letting the scorned man hit him a couple of times couldn't hurt, he had, after all, fucked the man's girl. _Mark._ He heard the slut say that name, and associated it with the man with a busted hand in front of him. What a pathetic name. _How _dare _he break my rib? _

Laxus began to feel his body electrify, and knew that the magic he associated with anger was showing itself. _Well it's little boy Mark's own fault, he shouldn't have pushed me._ Letting his magic run rampant over his body, Laxus began to chuckle. As the sound of laughing reached everyone's ears, the chatter died out with shock, _how_ could he be laughing? But he was, and that couldn't mean anything good. However, just as Laxus began to aim the lightning he controlled at the unintelligent specimen in front of him, a cascade of water began to flood through the town, seeping into every crevice. In the distance, Laxus heard a female voice shout something along the lines of 'vacation' before the sound of electricity around him prevented his hearing.

Electricity prevented his hearing. _Electricity_. The word was spoken in his mind as though in slow motion, and Laxus suddenly realised the dire situation that he was now in. Looking left and right, Laxus spotted a somewhat familiar face in the distance, with wide eyes and a completely drenched body, holding a golden object in her hand. On that hand, a flash of pink caught his attention, even though he was at a distance, he would recognize that shape and stupid hero complex anywhere. _She must have been the one who let loose all of that water._ Deciding that he was quickly running out of time, and was getting off track, Laxus suppressed his magic as much as physically possible, and began to run as far away from the torrent of water as possible, as quickly as he could. As he neared the edge of the town, he heard a shout, but just as he turned around, he tripped into a puddle of water, and after that, blackness was all he knew.


End file.
